Lisa the Librarian! That’s my most recent hat to wear. Recently, I discovered that my students, who are freshman in a university, don’t know how to use a library. We in America are very fortunate to have great public libraries and school libraries with regular classes to help us become familiar with how to use it. In the past week, I have met with my students twice outside of our usual class time to teach them some library skills. It was a voluntary class, so I was quite pleased at the turnout! 
It was amazing to me to see an actual card catalogue again (ever tried to use a computer catalogue with no regular electricity?) It was even more amazing to me that grown-ups had no idea of how to use a card catalogue. The students listened quite attentively as I first told them how to find their title or author in the files and how a library filing system works. I felt like a mother duck as my students followed me around to different parts of the library and we found some of the books we had looked up together. Then it was their turn to go solo; it brought me great pleasure to see the looks on their faces when they found their very first book all by themselves! Many came up to me proudly waving the book in my face!
Next week, I am going to assign a project where they have to select a book from a recommended reading list that I compiled for them from the card catalogue. My hopes in doing this is that, well after I am gone, my students will continue their education and improvement in English through reading. The books I selected are very practical books on marriage, finances, and living out your everyday life in faith. I tried to get books at a lower reading level since many of them struggle to get through their textbook readings.
To “help” my students explore this goldmine of information sooner rather than later, I am going to borrow an idea from my grandpa. I’ll never forget one of my favorite Christmas presents: a toilet roll with dollars stuffed in it. I have never unrolled a roll of toilet paper so fast! I am going to have a treasure hunt, so to speak, in the library. I figure a little bit of pocket change stuck in the pages of random books from the list will be a good motivation for my students to explore the books I have recommended. I’ll keep you posted . . .
Lisa
It was amazing to me to see an actual card catalogue again (ever tried to use a computer catalogue with no regular electricity?) It was even more amazing to me that grown-ups had no idea of how to use a card catalogue. The students listened quite attentively as I first told them how to find their title or author in the files and how a library filing system works. I felt like a mother duck as my students followed me around to different parts of the library and we found some of the books we had looked up together. Then it was their turn to go solo; it brought me great pleasure to see the looks on their faces when they found their very first book all by themselves! Many came up to me proudly waving the book in my face!
Next week, I am going to assign a project where they have to select a book from a recommended reading list that I compiled for them from the card catalogue. My hopes in doing this is that, well after I am gone, my students will continue their education and improvement in English through reading. The books I selected are very practical books on marriage, finances, and living out your everyday life in faith. I tried to get books at a lower reading level since many of them struggle to get through their textbook readings.
To “help” my students explore this goldmine of information sooner rather than later, I am going to borrow an idea from my grandpa. I’ll never forget one of my favorite Christmas presents: a toilet roll with dollars stuffed in it. I have never unrolled a roll of toilet paper so fast! I am going to have a treasure hunt, so to speak, in the library. I figure a little bit of pocket change stuck in the pages of random books from the list will be a good motivation for my students to explore the books I have recommended. I’ll keep you posted . . .
Lisa
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